November is awareness month for diabetes and C. Diff. Looking back at October, Medscape informs us
Maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active, and following a healthy dietary pattern can help women live longer after breast cancer diagnosis, according to a major new analysis of the latest research.
From the Federal Employee Benefits Open Season front, the Federal Times offers its consumer guide.
It was a big day on the Medicare front —
The American Hospital Association reports
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] late today posted a final rule on its website that will increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by a net 3.8% in calendar year 2023 compared to 2022. This update is based on a market basket percentage increase of 4.1%, reduced by 0.3 percentage points for productivity. [AHA calls the increase insufficient.] * * *
CMS finalized the payment policy for CY 2023 of average sales price (ASP) +6% for drugs and biologicals acquired through the 340B Program as a result of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in American Hospital Association v. Becerra.
CMS also finalized proposals to establish the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) model, a new provider type for eligible critical access hospitals and small rural hospitals beginning in Jan. 1, 2023. The rule finalized proposals related to model payment, covered services, conditions of participation, and quality measurements.
[and]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today released on its website its calendar year 2023 final rule for the physician fee schedule. The rule will cut the conversion factor to $33.06 in CY 2023 from $34.61 in CY 2022, which reflects the expiration of the temporary 3% statutory payment increase; a 0.00% conversion factor update; and a budget-neutrality adjustment.
From HHS.gov
For a fact sheet on the CY 2023 OPPS/ASC Payment System Final Rule (CMS-1772-FC), please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cy-2023-medicare-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-system-and-ambulatory-surgical-center-2
For a fact sheet on Rural Emergency Hospitals, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cy-2023-medicare-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-system-and-ambulatory-surgical-center-1
For a fact sheet on the CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/calendar-year-cy-2023-medicare-physician-fee-schedule-final-rule
For a fact sheet on final changes to the CY 2023 Quality Payment Program, please visit: https://qpp-cm-prod-content.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2136/2023%20Quality%20Payment%20Program%20Final%20Rule%20Resources.zip
For a fact sheet on final changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/calendar-year-cy-2023-medicare-physician-fee-schedule-final-rule-medicare-shared-savings-program
For a CMS blog on behavioral health poliices, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/blog/strengthening-behavioral-health-care-people-medicare-0?check_logged_in=1
What’s more, Beckers Hospital Review informs us
CMS evaluated two and a half years of readmission cases for Medicare patients through the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and penalized 2,273 hospitals that had a greater-than-expected rate of return, according to a Nov. 1 report from Kaiser Health News.
The average payment reduction was 0.43 percent, the lowest rate reduction since 2014. Reductions will be applied to each Medicare payment to the affected hospitals from Oct. 1 through next September. It is expected to cost the hospitals $320 million over the 12-month period.
The report notes that the COVID-19 pandemic caused turmoil in hospitals and that CMS decided to exclude the first half of 2020 from the report due to the chaos. CMS also excluded Medicare patients who were readmitted with pneumonia across all three years because of the difficulty distinguishing them from COVID patients.
From the Affordable Care Act preventive services front, Healio tells us
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released two final recommendations on the use of hormone therapy for the primary prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal people.
The recommendations advocate against the use of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) through a combination of estrogen and progestin in postmenopausal people, and MHT through estrogen alone in postmenopausal people who have had a hysterectomy.
Both are D-grade recommendations and are consistent with the USPSTF’s previous recommendations on the treatment made back in 2017.
James Stevermer, MD, MSPH, a task force member, also noted in the press release that the recommendations are only for those who are considering hormone therapy to prevent chronic conditions following menopause.
“Those who wish to manage symptoms of menopause with hormone therapy are encouraged to talk with their health care professional,” he said.
From the prescription drug and vaccine development front —
STAT News reports
Pfizer’s maternal vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus [RSV] reduced the rate of severe illness in newborns by 81.8%, the company said Tuesday, meeting the goal of a pivotal study.
The company said that it plans to file the data on the vaccine with regulators by the end of the year and that it expects an eight-month review.
RSV is a common cause of illness and infection in young infants. By giving the vaccine during pregnancy, researchers hope antibodies generated by mothers would be transferred to infants. Currently, the pertussis vaccine and the influenza vaccine are given during pregnancy for this reason.
Bloomberg Prognosis tells us
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based biotech company, * * * is testing a non-opioid drug for acute pain. Vertex’s drug, VX-548, aims to block the Nav1.8 sodium channel, which acts like a gate allowing pain signals to travel from the nerves to the brain.
VX-548 met its goals in late-stage trials evaluating the drug in people who underwent a bunionectomy or an abdominoplasty, the formal name for a tummy tuck. Vertex will run the same studies with more patients before seeking regulatory approval. The company hasn’t disclosed when data will be available beyond saying the trials will be quick since patients receive the drug for only 48 hours. Vertex is also testing VX-548 in nerve pain and eventually wants to see if it works for chronic pain.
If VX-548 passes its next big tests, it could offer a new option for people recovering from surgery or other medical procedures. Of course, plenty of other pain drugs that looked promising early on in testing never reached the market.
Fortunately, scientists are investing time and money on a variety of alternatives for pain.
From the Rx coverage front, BioPharma Dive relates
Eli Lilly’s new diabetes medicine Mounjaro outpaced Wall Street sales forecasts during the third quarter, fueled by strong patient demand and widening insurer coverage.
U.S. sales of the drug totaled $97 million between July and September, Mounjaro’s first full quarter on the market since its May 13 approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Payments related to a collaboration agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in Japan pushed global revenue for the quarter to $187 million, well above the consensus analyst forecast of $82 million.
“We have seen unprecedented demand for Mounjaro’s Type 2 diabetes launch in the U.S.,” said Anat Ashkenazi, Lilly’s chief financial officer, on a Tuesday call with analysts.
Lilly is also conducting a study to support an FDA marketing application for Mounjaro to be prescribed for weight loss.
Notably, Mounjaro showed a potent effect in reducing trial participants’ weight, a benefit that was also observed in a large study specifically assessing it as an obesity treatment. While it’s currently only approved to treat Type 2 diabetes, its potential as a medicine for both chronic conditions has made it one of Lilly’s most important products.
Lilly is currently conducting a second study in obesity and plans to complete an approval application in that indication should results, expected in April next year, also prove positive.
In U.S. healthcare business news, MedTech Dive reports
Johnson & Johnson agreed to acquire Abiomed, a Danvers, Mass.-based maker of heart pumps, for $16.6 billion.
The deal will contribute to J&J’s cardiovascular portfolio, complementing its Biosense Webster electrophysiology business, BTIG Analyst Marie Thibault wrote in a research note on Tuesday.
The deal has already been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Finally, check out the NIH Director’s blog discussing “How the Brain Differentiates the ‘Click,’ ‘Crack,’ or ‘Thud’ of Everyday Tasks.”
If you’ve been staying up late to watch the World Series, you probably spent those nine innings hoping for superstars Bryce Harper or José Altuve to square up a fastball and send it sailing out of the yard. Long-time baseball fans like me can distinguish immediately the loud crack of a home-run swing from the dull thud of a weak grounder.
Our brains have such a fascinating ability to discern “right” sounds from “wrong” ones in just an instant. This applies not only in baseball, but in the things that we do throughout the day, whether it’s hitting the right note on a musical instrument or pushing the car door just enough to click it shut without slamming.
Now, an NIH-funded team of neuroscientists has discovered what happens in the brain when one hears an expected or “right” sound versus a “wrong” one after completing a task. It turns out that the mammalian brain is remarkably good at predicting both when a sound should happen and what it ideally ought to sound like. Any notable mismatch between that expectation and the feedback, and the hearing center of the brain reacts.